Buttons & Lace

by Penelope Sky

  “As soon as we’re finished with dinner.” He continued eating with upstanding manners. His elegant movements contradicted the darkness in his eyes. He was a gentleman, but he was the devil at the same time.

  “And what exactly are you planning on doing to me?”

  “It can wait until after dinner.” He always had to have the power in the conversation. He made subtle moves to put me down and raise himself up.

  I kept pushing. “No, it can’t.”

  “I don’t want you to lose your appetite.”

  “I never have an appetite when I have to look at you.” I gave him a cold stare, hating him and adoring him at the same time. I loved it when he kissed me and fucked me so passionately. No man had ever taken me like that, like he had to have me then and there. It was the kind of attraction I’d only heard about. But I also despised him for keeping me as a prisoner. He treated me like a pawn in a game, a toy he liked to play with.

  My words didn’t put him on edge. It didn’t seem like he cared. “All I have to do is shove two fingers inside you. I’ll see your appetite then.” He held my gaze with a winter chill in his eyes.

  My thighs squeezed together automatically, knowing he was right. My body was dangerously dehydrated because he made me wet every time he was in my presence.

  We sat in uncomfortable silence and finished our meal. I waited for him to tell me his plan for the evening, but he never did. He finished a glass of wine like he did every night with dinner. He threw the remaining liquid away, never keeping a bottle that had already been uncorked.

  “I’m finished.” I set my napkin on the table and stood.

  “Sit.” His command erupted from deep within his throat. He never raised his voice, but he sounded powerful all the same.

  I didn’t want to obey. I wanted to stand there out of defiance. But I wanted to know what plans he had for me. A bottle of wine was sitting on the table, and I could whack him upside the head with it. I lowered myself back into the chair.

  “Your actions last night really got to me.” He sat upright in his chair like he was a king and I was a citizen about to be executed. “I’ve never been so hard in my life.”

  That last part confused me.

  “But you have to be punished for your actions. So I’m going to tie you up, spank you with my belt, and then fuck you. That’s a fair punishment for your behavior, Button.”

  I’d been slapped with a belt before. It didn’t seem painful, but it was. The bite of leather always marked the skin, making it welt and redden. The pain lingered for days afterward, and the scars took weeks to disappear. “You expect me to do that for a button?”

  “You will do that for a button.” He held my gaze, telling me defiance wouldn’t help in this situation. He was going to get what he wanted no matter how much I fought.

  “No.” I wasn’t going to let him throw me around like a rag doll. Been there, done that.

  “Yes. Your actions aren’t excusable.”

  “Maybe I wouldn’t have tried to kill you if you didn’t try to choke me last night.”

  “And maybe I wouldn’t have had to do that if you just admitted you’re mine.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ll die before that happens.”

  “Then I’ll kill you and bring you back to life.” The threat wasn’t idle. He stared at me like he meant every word.

  Sometimes, I forgot he really was a psychopath. Not a psycho like Bones but mentally unstable nonetheless. “I’m not letting you beat me. Get over it.”

  “I’m not going to beat you.”

  “That’s what you just said.”

  “I said I’m going to spank you. It’ll hurt a little bit, but it’ll feel so good you won’t even notice.”

  “I’ve been slapped with a belt before. It doesn’t feel good—at all. Maybe you should let me slap you around and see how you like it.”

  He didn’t respond to the sarcasm. “You’ll enjoy it.”

  “Will not.”

  “You’ll enjoy it with me. I can promise you that.”

  “Nope.”

  He leaned over the table, his elbows resting on the surface. “Button.”

  I met his gaze without flinching. “Crow.”

  He hated being defied, but he loved it at the same time. It was obvious in the intensity of his eyes. His arms shook in frustration. He held up two fingers. “Two buttons.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

  “Instead of one, I’ll give you two.”

  I didn’t realize the cost of my actions was negotiable. “Nothing less than five.”

  He stared at me with a calculating look.

  I wasn’t going to go through that without serious compensation. Five buttons for one session was reasonable. That saved me five days of enslavement. That put me five days closer to freedom.

  “Five is too many.”

  “If you were the one being whipped, you would feel differently.”

  “It won’t hurt, Button.”

  “Easy for you to say. Five.” I wasn’t going to budge. I was worth more than two buttons.

  He clenched his jaw as he considered the offer. His cock was hard in his jeans from thinking about the violence he was about to cause. He didn’t want to waste time bartering back and forth. He wanted to get down to the good stuff. “Four.”

  “Five.”

  He gripped the edge of the table before he gave in. “Five.”

  ***

  He pushed me on the bed and tied my ankles together with the yellow lace he pulled out of his pocket. I was buck naked and on my stomach. He grabbed my wrists and tied them together behind my back, making it impossible for me to move.

  He crawled on top of me and swept the hair off the back of my neck. He kissed the nape gently, following my spine all the way down to my ass. His lips found my entrance and he kissed it softly, making my spine curl in pleasure.

  I forgot that I was tied up like a hog, and I just enjoyed it. He was a god with his mouth, and he knew how to bring me to life. He slipped his tongue into my slit then rubbed my clit vigorously.

  My hatred for him ebbed away, replaced with the fire of longing in my belly. In the throes of passion, there was nothing but the two of us. There was no hesitance or second-guessing. We were together, and in that moment, we would always be together.

  He crawled up my back, his chest pressed against me. He kissed each shoulder before he turned my face toward his and kissed me on the mouth. I could taste myself, but that drove my arousal higher.

  He kept his mouth to mine but stopped kissing me. “Safe word is lace.”

  The safe word scared me because this time it was necessary. But it also made me burn hotter that I had the option. All I had to do was say that word, and he would stop at once. It gave me power, the kind I never had with Bones.

  “Say it.”

  “Lace.”

  He moved to his feet and grabbed the black belt from the table. He stood in his black boxers, his muscled thighs thick and strong. His stomach was chiseled and hard, his eight-pack defined, even in the darkness. His chest expanded with every excited breath. The darkness had descended in his eyes. “You tried to kill me in my own bed.” He raised the belt.

  I closed my eyes and prepared for the slap. I’d been hit with a belt before, and while it wasn’t agonizing, it did hurt. But the anticipation of the pain was worse than the pain itself.

  He slammed the belt on my left cheek, immediately slapping once it hit my skin.

  I released an involuntary cry.

  He took a deep breath like my reaction pleased him. “You deserve to be punished for what you did.” He slammed the belt down again, hitting my right cheek.

  I clenched my jaw and tried not to make a peep. I’d already let out one yell, and I was embarrassed.

  He slapped the belt again.

  My body clenched at the impact. My skin was on fire, and I felt the redness form. Instead of drying up, my pussy grew wetter. To my horror, I
actually enjoyed it. I actually liked the bite of the leather against my skin. It hurt, but it felt good at the same time.

  He slapped me again. “Try to kill me again and see what happens.” He struck me three times in a row, hitting the exact same place with ferocity.

  Tears burned in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. But I couldn’t stop the yells from escaping my lips. “Stop. Please, stop.” My entire ass hurt, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit on it for weeks.

  “You want me to stop?” He slapped my ass again. “I will when you learn your lesson.”

  Tears flooded my eyes until they breached the surface. They streamed down my face, my sinuses flooded with mucus. My body reacted in pain, but my pussy clenched tighter with longing. The pain just made it more pleasurable.

  I was sick.

  He threw the belt on the floor then ripped the lace from my ankles with one swipe. He turned me over onto my back, my hands resting underneath me. The fire in his eyes had turned into a raging inferno. It burned everything in his path. He wanted me. He separated my legs and leaned over me, shoving his rock-hard dick inside me. He stared at the tears as they streamed down my face, his cock thicker and harder than it’d ever been. The sight of my tears turned him on even more. My pain was his fantasy.

  He shoved himself inside without preamble, and he slid through the slickness between my legs. He groaned as he fucked me, his balls slapping against my ass as he rocked into me fiercely.

  I tasted the salt on my lips, and the tears stopped falling. I stared at his powerful chest as he bucked inside me. It glistened with sweat and strength. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but my hands were restrained.

  He grabbed my legs and hooked them over his shoulders, compressing me deep into the mattress. He slammed hard inside me, using the springs of the mattress to push me back up and over his cock. He fucked me harder than he ever had before. “You’re wetter than you’ve ever been.”

  I should be disgusted by what I just agreed to. I should be disgusted by his obsession with hurting me. But I got pulled into the darkness with him. I was a beast just like him. My captivity with Bones was a living nightmare, but being Crow’s prisoner was the most erotic experience of my life.

  “Your pussy is mine.” He pressed his forehead to mine and thrust into me. “Tell me.”

  My pussy took his cock over and over, growing wetter when an orgasm approached in the distance. I felt it start deep inside me and slowly creep everywhere else. An avalanche had started deep in the mountains, and the snow was slowly falling my way.

  He pressed his pelvic bone against me as he thrust, rubbing my clit violently. “Tell me.”

  I wasn’t his, and I never would be. But he took control over my body. He owned my reaction. He owned the way he made me come around his dick. “My pussy is yours.”

  My submission made him moan deep from the back of his throat. “All mine.” He wanted to come, but he held off, giving it to me harder so I could reach the threshold at the exact same moment he did.

  It crept up on me at a slow pace, but once it was near, it zoomed by quicker than the eye could see. It shattered me into infinite pieces. I fell, breaking piece by piece until there was nothing left. There was just a burning sensation between my legs. Unbridled pleasure stretched through me, sending me all the way to the stars and back. “Oh, god...” It was the most powerful orgasm I’d ever had. It actually hurt because it felt so good. It stretched on forever, multiple climaxes combining into one raging explosion. “Crow...” I locked my gaze with his and fell deeper into him, more attached than I ever wanted to be.

  “Button.” He inserted himself completely inside me as he released, moaning with pleasure as he filled my pussy with his warm seed. “Fuck.” He grabbed the back of my neck and held me in place as he kept his dick shoved inside me, wanting to make sure I got every drop.

  I writhed underneath him, clinging to the euphoria as it slipped away. I never wanted this feeling to end. It was phenomenal, better than the most exquisite food in the world. It was even better than freedom.

  And that’s when the guilt kicked in. I was enjoying this far too much. I had a boyfriend at home worried about me, and I was getting good sex in a foreign country. It didn’t just make me a slut. It made me a terrible person.

  Crow caught the change in my eyes. He saw the light leave forever. “Where did you go?”

  I didn’t want to talk about it with him. I’d just told him my pussy was his. Jacob hadn’t come into my mind once. I just blurted that out without any thought of consequences. “Nowhere.”

  ***

  After he showered, he entered my bedroom. I just finished applying ointment to my ass to stop the burn. My cheeks were red and covered in welts. While they hurt, I still enjoyed them. It reminded me of the fierce way he took me. And that usually made the area between my legs ache for him.

  He walked to the jar sitting on the shelf where two buttons sat at the bottom. He pulled out five buttons from his pocket and dropped them inside, bringing my new total to a whopping eight.

  He sat beside me on the bed, his eyes soft again. The darkness and heat had disappeared once we were finished. “You liked it. And then you disappeared. What happened?”

  He was two different people depending on what time of day it was. Right now, he was the gentle and protective man I saw from time to time. He had no interest in hurting me, and he would protect me against anything. He cared about my feelings and thoughts. I loved that side of him. But I also loved the feral side too. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  He brushed my hair from my face and glided his fingers through the strands. He soothed me quietly, lulling me to a safe place. He leaned in and kissed my cheek then my shoulder, treating me like a goddess he worshiped. “Did I do something?”

  “No.” Well, yes. I was in this situation because he wouldn’t let me go. He kept screwing me and making me enjoy it.

  “I’m here if you change your mind.”

  “I know...” My heart softened at the offer.

  He cupped my face and gave me a kiss. “Good night.”

  “Good night...” I didn’t want him to leave. When I slept with him last night, it was the best night of sleep I’ve ever gotten. No one could touch me when I was in his arms. Bones couldn’t get to me. No one could.

  He left my bedroom and shut the door behind him.

  My eyes moved to the jar on the counter, seeing the eight distinct buttons sitting inside. They were all different colors, coming from different places. Each one was unique, special. It was the rarest form of currency I’d ever heard of.

  I went to bed and felt lonely. The room was too big, and I was too small. My past haunted me, and I couldn’t escape. I kept thinking about Bones and the way he hurt me. But then I thought about Crow doing the same thing and how much I enjoyed it. It didn’t make any sense. Nothing was adding up.

  I finally fell asleep but didn’t have any dreams. Instead, I had nightmares. I dreamed of Jacob trying to get back on his feet after I disappeared. I imagined that sadness in his eyes everywhere he went. He was lost without me, living in the apartment he used to share with me. He went to the police and tried everything he could to find me, but the trail went cold. He lost me forever.

  Then the dream changed to Bones. His grotesque face looked into mine before he slapped me as hard as he could. A bat came from nowhere, and he chased me around the house, prepared to crack my skull in.

  Crow came out of nowhere and pushed him back, breaking the bat across his thigh before he slammed both pieces in his gut. Bones fell over, dropping dead on the spot.

  Crow came back to me, wrapping his protective arms around me. “Button, no one will hurt you. My word is law.” His voice was hazy, blurry from the dream.

  I wrapped my arms around him and finally felt safe.

  Bones rose from the dead and pulled the wood out of his stomach. Then he lunged for Crow, stabbing the wood all the way through his back and through my chest. We were s
tabbed together, fixed in place.

  Bones laughed as the light left Crow’s eyes.

  Stop.

  Wake up.

  Come on, Pearl.

  Get up.

  I finally snapped out of the dream and sat up. My body was covered in sweat, and I couldn’t keep my breath steady. I gripped the sheets beside me and felt the moisture that dampened the material. I needed something to confirm that I was truly awake—that I was safe.

  My heart was palpitating a million miles a minute, and I felt sick to my stomach. Visions from the dream played out right in front of me, slowly dissipating like smoke on the wind. Even when the images left my mind, fear still wrecked my heart.

  I got out of bed and let my feet carry me. I left my bedroom and walked up the stairs until I was on the third landing. His bedroom was down the hall, and I walked as quickly as I could without running.

  I reached for the knob and turned it, but it was locked in place. It wouldn’t budge. I pounded my fists against the door and hoped he would hear me from his bedroom. When my hands grew tired, I rested my forehead against the door and tried to remain calm. It was just a nightmare. Bones couldn’t get me now.

  The door opened, and Crow stared at me with an expressionless face. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his hair was slightly messy from rolling around in his bed. He only wore his black boxers. “Button, what’s wrong?”

  I moved into his chest and rested my cheek against his slowly beating heart. “Nightmare.”

  He enveloped me in his arms and rubbed my back gently. His chin rested on my head, and he quietly consoled me, his affection doing most of the work.

  When I was in his arms, I immediately felt better. I was soothed just as I was when I slept with him. I loved my room, but I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to sleep beside my dream catcher. I moved from his embrace and headed to his bedroom.

  He grabbed my hand and steadied me. “What are you doing?”

  “Going to sleep.” I pulled away.

  “You can’t sleep in here.”

  I turned his way, assuming I’d heard him wrong. “Excuse me?”